Monday, February 17, 2014

The Conservative government plans to crack down on “unjustified
cross-border (Canada-U.S.) price discrimination” that results in Canadians paying
more for goods.

The federal budget outlined legislation to end “country pricing” where multinational
companies set higher prices for goods in Canada than those charged in the
United States.

Canadians have grown accustomed to paying higher prices for everything
from books, clothing and appliances to tires and auto parts.

Legislation
will address the price gap and empower the country's competition commissioner
to enforce the new rules, said Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.

The government has been under pressure from consumers to do something
about the long-standing price discrimination.

“There
are some companies that look at Canada as a small market, relatively well off,
with a large middle class and willing to pay a little more," he said.

A
Senate finance committee report said there are several “complex factors” behind
the price differences.

These include higher transportation costs across the vast country, the
need for English and French wording on items, more onerous packaging
requirements, provincial regulatory requirements, a smaller consumer market and
tariffs.

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Two disgraced senators are facing criminal charges for fraud and breach
of trust over travel and living expense claims.

The Mounties have arrested Patrick Brazeau, a
suspended former Conservative senator, and Mac Harb, a former Liberal senator
who resigned from the upper house last summer.

“I
can assure you that we continue our work on other significant files," said
assistant police commissioner Gilles Michaud.

He
was referring to investigations of allegedly fraudulent expenses claimed by
suspended former Conservative senators Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin.

Police are also looking into the circumstances of $90,000 that Nigel
Wright, former chief of staff to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, gave to Duffy to
repay disputed expenses.

The investigation into Brazeau and Harb concern allegations they improperly
declared homes outside the nation’s capital as their principal residences, allowing
them to receive expenses to live in Ottawa near the Parliament buildings.

Harb has repaid the Senate $231,649, Brazeau refused to reimburse $48,000
and Wallin has returned about $150,000 in travel expense claims.